Somali Prime Minister Promises Peace Soon

Calm held in Mogadishu a day after the mayhem that broke out as Ethiopian-backed troops took the capital from the Islamic Courts on Thursday. (By Sahl Abdulle -- For The Washington Post)

Some regional analysts have said that the alleged links between Islamic Court leaders and al-Qaeda were exaggerated, however. And opposition leaders in Ethiopia have said that Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who had accused the movement of supporting secessionist guerrilla groups inside Ethiopia, had played up the terrorist angle to win U.S. backing for military action in Somalia.

Some analysts said that the Islamic militias' rapid retreat in the face of the Ethiopian offensive suggests that they were never the threat they were made out to be; others believe the Islamic fighters have faded back to wage a protracted guerrilla war, a scenario that has always been the most feared among regional leaders.

The Islamic Courts movement was founded in the 1990s as a collection of clan-based courts imposing Islamic law. It was broadly welcomed among Mogadishu's residents when its militias took control of the capital in June.

On Friday, a spokesman for the transitional government, Abdirahman Nur, said that Ethiopian troops were expected to remain in Somalia until they have ferreted out the "extremist" elements within the movement. Meles said his troops would pursue the "international jihadists" down the coast.

"We need to pursue those elements to make sure they don't establish themselves again and destabilize Somalia and the region," said Meles, who had accused the movement of getting support from Ethiopia's bitter enemy, Eritrea, among other countries. "In addition, we have to help the transitional government stabilize the situation in Mogadishu. But I expect that mission to be completed very soon."

The Reuters news agency reported that Ethiopian jets buzzed the town of Jilib, 65 miles north of Kismaayo port, which is still held by the Islamic movement.

In the capital, Ethiopian troops moved quickly to take control of Mogadishu's main airport, closed for years by clan-on-clan fighting, and the city's seaport.

Besides the anger that many Somalis expressed at the presence of Ethiopian troops in their city, there was the sheer oddity of seeing a storied enemy in their midst. Somalia and Ethiopia have fought border skirmishes for decades and one full-scale war in 1977 and 1978.

Ibrahim admitted to staring at the Ethiopian soldiers as they rumbled by in tanks and trucks, and wondering what they must think about being inside Somalia. He watched them eat mangos and bananas. He watched them smiling and watched other passersby shouting at them.

"But the soldier wouldn't understand, and so a translator would have to explain," Ibrahim said. "Some were very suspicious."

Norifitin, the teacher, joined hundreds of people who ventured across the city to see what an Ethiopian occupation looked like. He went to the old, falling-down U.S. Embassy compound, which government and Ethiopian troops had taken over. The buildings were crumbling, the lot overgrown with weeds and trees.

Shiikha Mohamed decided, however, it was best to lock himself inside his home until things felt a bit more certain.

"We're sitting in the house only," he said by telephone from his Mogadishu neighborhood. "The future is not good. The Ethiopian army is too much inside of Mogadishu, and I don't know what they're doing."

Correspondent Craig Timberg in Johannesburg contributed to this report.